Storybook Love
by mamaXunicorn
Summary: What should have happened under that toll bridge. Alternate scene and spoilers for 1x06.


_**A/N: This is just a little something I needed to write to make myself feel better about the heart breaking end to this episode. Generally, I am glad that they didn't dive into their relationship right away but me being the hopeless romantic that I am had to give them their happily ever after. I hope you enjoy! **_

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><p>Mary waited under that toll bridge for what seemed like hours. The air was chilly but she hardly felt it, her heart beat so fast, the anticipation itself kept her warm. Her stomach flipped and flopped and had been doing so since David asked to meet her there and even more so since she decided to go.<p>

Almost every part of her was telling her not to go. It was just as Emma said, if something felt wrong that meant it was wrong and this was wrong.

She hardly knew David, he was just a man who'd been in a coma for as long as she could remember. He was just a man that little Henry thought was Prince Charming. He was just a man who woke from his never-ending coma at her touch. He was just a man who would have died if she hadn't saved him. He was just a man who smiled at her and made her knees go weak. He was just a man who told her she was the only thing in his life that seemed real. He was just a man who ditched his own homecoming party to tell her how much he wanted her.

Oh, who was she kidding. David Nolan was not _just_ anything.

Which led her there, standing under the toll bridge, twisting that mysterious ring around her finger.

The woods were quiet, nothing but the wind rustling through the leaves and the sound of her blood racing through her veins.

The anticipation had almost driven her insane and she wasn't sure how long she was out there before she started to wonder if perhaps he wasn't coming.

When he made his offer and before she decided to go, she wondered how long he'd wait for her, and if she never did show, how that would effect him. She never considered that she'd be the one waiting for him and he'd never show up.

The anticipation and excitement she once felt slowly began to dwindle into anxiety and dread. She twisted the ring faster and faster around her finger, her throat tightening as she scanned the darkness around her.

And then she heard footsteps. Soft, light footsteps upon the wooden bridge behind her and slowly she turned.

A breath of relief escaped her lips as her eyes fell upon him, standing there, now leaning against the railing, smiling down at her with a cross between shock and glee. "You came." His voice was smooth as silk with nothing but the silence around them.

"You sound surprised." She answered, hardly believing her own words for just minutes ago doubt plagued her mind.

"I am." He continued his way across the bridge and she followed his every movement until he was standing just in front of her, her heart leaping at the way he smiled at her. "I didn't think you would."

She let out a breath, once again twisting the ring around her finger. "Neither did I." She admitted quietly.

The smile on his face faltered only slightly. "Then why did you?"

"I don't know." She replied with a small shrug. "My head was telling me no, don't go. My heart..." She closed her eyes just briefly as she brought her hand to rest over her heart. Opening her eyes again she met his and her breath was stolen right out of her chest. Never had a man looked at her with such intensity. The look he gave her was nothing short of pure passion and it sent shivers up her spine.

"You do feel it too, don't you?" He asked, his voice just as passionate as his eyes. "This connection between us."

Mary licked her suddenly dry lips and was able to give a curt nod in reply. "Yes." She whispered. "It's not something I can't explain or even understand..."

"I know." He took a step closer to her, extending his hands out just in front of him, inviting her in.

She hesitated for just a moment. Meeting him was one thing, talking to him was just that, talk. If she touched him...she hardly knew what would happen but she knew it would change everything.

Mary was never one to take those risks. She was content to take the easy way out in order to keep her heart off the line; resigning from the hospital, avoiding him at all costs so she wouldn't have to confront him or the feelings that only kept getting stronger.

She broke that habit of hers coming there tonight however and she figured if she had come this far she might as well.

Slowly she slid her hands into his and as she did, a warmness unlike anything she had ever felt before fell over her and a small gasp escaped her lips. She looked up, meeting his eyes and saw he looked just as shaken, his lips parted ever so slightly, his widened with awe.

His fingers curled around her small hands, his thumb instinctively brushing over the ring on her finger. He drew her closer to him until there was little to no space between them.

"Mary..." Never had her name sounded so wonderful before. His warm breath ghosted across her face and she inhaled sharply, her eyelids fluttering as she got lost in his presence.

"I am very glad you came, Mary." He continued in a hushed tone and she smiled, a soft hum escaping her.

"As am I, David."

Releasing just one of her hands, he lifted his now free hand to her head, brushing the little strands of hair away from her forehead. She sighed as she leaned into his gentle caress until his hand came to rest softly on the side of her cheek, his thumb moving in light gestures against her soft skin. A hint of a giggle escaped her lips at the feel of his gentle touches.

"Is this you choosing us?" His voice pulled her out of her almost catatonic trance and her eyes flickered open to lock on his. His penetrating gaze was questioning and she could see the worry and hesitance in those deep, soulful eyes.

She swallowed thickly before a smile crossed her lips. "I would have thought that answer was obvious."

A smile tugged at his lips, a light sparkling in his eyes. "You'll have to indulge me, my mind is just a bit hazy."

She realized he was trying to be humorous but his words brought back her back to a harsh reality. David Nolan was a man with a damaged head and though his memories failed him now who was to say they wouldn't return in a month, a week, a day?

The smile quickly dropped from her lips and the warmness was gone as she took a step away from him, her heart sinking as she left his touch.

His smile soon disappeared as she pulled away and question and hurt pooled in his eyes. "What is it?"

"David," She shook her head, her voice quivering, "What are we doing?"

He scoffed softly, "I would have thought that answer was obvious." He echoed her own words from just seconds ago and she shook her head again as tears stung at the back of her eyes.

"This is wrong." She muttered as she cast her gaze to the rocks below.

"No." He closed the distance she'd put between them, taking her hands in his, causing her to look at him. "I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'll say it a million more times if I have to." He squeezed her hands with a gentle forcefulness and locked onto her eyes, giving her that look that swept her in and kept her under his spell no matter how hard she tried to look away. "You are the only thing that feels right."

"But Kathryn..."

"I don't care about Kathryn." He insisted. "She has showed me so much, she has tried everything to return my memories to me and I tried. I tried to make something feel right but nothing ever could and nothing ever will because what's right is not in that house..." His hand came to cup her cheek and her breath hitched at his touch and she instinctively nuzzled her cheek against his palm. "...she's standing right here with me."

She bit down on her lip softly, blinking away the tears that continued to pool in her eyes. "David..."

Any words she would have said were swallowed and lost as his lips suddenly claimed hers in a breathtaking kiss. She inhaled sharply, her eyes closing as she lost herself in the feel of his kiss, her hand gently sliding onto his shoulder to keep him close. The kiss was short and chaste but in it she could feel all the passion she'd seen in him.

A shaky breath escaped her parted lips as he pulled away from her. When her eyes finally fluttered opened she was met with intense gaze and her heart leapt and proceeded to beat frantically.

"You cannot tell me that that was in any way wrong." He said, his voice adopting a husky quality she hadn't heard before.

She licked her lips, her stomach flip-flopping at the taste of him still there and she thought back to what she'd decided earlier. She was not going to take the easy way out. Her brain told her no but her heart told her yes. For once Miss Mary Margaret Blanchard was not going to be a sensible teacher. She was going to be a woman, a woman who had found her man and the risks be damned.

"No," Her hand that was previously rested on his shoulder, slid up and around his neck, the tips of her fingers caressing the hairs at the nape. "It couldn't be more right."

She tightened her fingers at his neck and pushed herself up onto her toes, this time meeting his lips in a kiss that spoke for itself.

She could feel his surprise in the sudden tenseness of his muscles but he quickly relaxed, his lips forming in a smile against hers as he slid his arms around her.

The world was forgotten around them that night. They talked and kissed and laughed and fell asleep wrapped in each other's embrace right there on the wooden toll bridge.

It was Emma who found them the next morning, needing no excuse to go looking for her roommate who had not returned to her apartment the night before.

She smiled at the couple and wondered if perhaps Henry was truly right about all of this. After the night she'd had, it had to be. For love that could keep the two in its grasp warm through the cold and harsh reality of life had to be from a fairy tale.

"Good on ya, Mary." She whispered before heading back into town, already thinking of what to tell Regina and Graham incase they inquire about the two missing residents.

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><p><em>My love is like a storybook story <em>

_but its as real as the feelings I feel_

_my love is like a storybook story _

_but its as real as the feelings I feel,_

_its as real as the feelings I feel. _


End file.
